Joining the team

12-Aug-2008 09:15 EDT

Raytheon has joined Boeing’s EP-X industry team. EP-X is a manned airborne intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting aircraft that will replace the U.S. Navy's EP-3 signals intelligence (SIGINT) platform. Raytheon will be responsible for EP-X sensor integration and multi-intelligence integration and play a significant role in core mission systems. Raytheon joins Argon ST, a designer and developer of SIGINT sensors and information operations systems, on the EP-X team. The Navy awarded Boeing a $1.25 million EP-X concept refinement contract in February. Since then, Boeing and Argon ST have been defining program requirements and developing initial system concepts. The Navy will solicit proposals for the technology development phase of the program in the coming months and select contractors for that phase in 2009.

Northrop Grumman recently completed its successful inaugural flight test of the UTC Aerospace Systems MS-177 sensor payload on an RQ-4 Global Hawk. The ability to carry more powerful sensors close the capability gap between the RQ-4 and soon-to-be-retired Lockheed U-2.